Wow, just realized it is already day 4!!
Ok, back to day 1…
I wisely had planned that this would be a short day, only 4 driving hours. I pretty much got everything ready the day before and the truck was mostly packed, which is how I was lulled into complacency and ended up leaving an hour later than planned. Well, and it was prime day and I spent at least an hour on Amazon buying stuff. 😁 At least I stuck to things I already wanted and planned on buying (mostly), and I resisted buying a new tv.
I am sorely tempted to tell you about all the cool stuff I got…but maybe a boring read and it has little to do with my road trip. What does apply are the solar panel charger and battery pack I got. Those I hope will come in handy while camping in the woods.
Back to day 1: My husband was feeling pretty bad about me leaving again so soon after I got home from Portugal. I get it, and I feel bad for him. But I have decided I can feel compassion for how he feels while still doing what I have set out to do. Except for his feeling bad, there’s no reason for me to stay home, so off I go.
However, I did decide to go meet him and bring sandwiches on his lunch break. I would be leaving before he got home from work and this would be our last chance to see each other for a bit. The other thing I did for him, in my wise knowing of how he was going to feel….I suggested he take 3 days off work and meet me. I even bought the airline tickets for him as a gift 😍. So, at some point he will fly to Salt Lake City and I will pick him up there. I will have one of my only nights in a hotel….then we will drive South to Moab to see Arches NP and Dead Horse Point SP, then maybe a fast stop in Canyonlands NP on our way down to Mesa Verde NP, then I will drive him to the Albuquerque airport to fly home.
Hi, off track again…back to day ONE😂
So, after I had lunch with B, I suddenly realized how much I needed to get done before leaving at the planned time of 2pm. Let’s just say the goal went from leave by 2, to leave by 2:15, to 2:30, to ” I BETTER get my butt outta here by 3!”
I left at 2:55.
And hit traffic immediately. My 4 hour drive became a 5 hour drive according to Google. Woohoo! Everyone dreams of starting a big road trip with stop and go traffic, right? 😐
Despite all that, I wanted to keep my “date” with my friend who lives about a hour from me and who is on the way. I had to cut the hour visit I wanted down to 25 minutes, but I got to see her and chat and it was worth it.😁
My one fear was not making it to the campground before dark dark. HA, my one fear? That’s pretty funny. One? Here’s the list in my head that day…making it before dark, that there would be no open spots in my planned camp spot (no reservations), that there would be no one camping there at all and it would be just me alone in the middle of nowhere, and, of course, the increased probability of having a car accident when driving hundreds of miles a day….
Well, it all worked out just fine, like it usually does. The drive was just right…long enough to really feel like I went somewhere, short enough that it didn’t feel endless, the camp spot was next to a pretty river in the middle of the sage flats in Nevada, there were enough people to feel “not alone”, but plenty of open camp spots….even one friendly couple who made change for me. Camp spot was $15 and I only had 20’s. The lady even tried to just give me the $15 and give my 20 back, act of kindness. But I would feel terrible to accept it. I told her how awesome she was for trying, I thanked them for their help and their generosity…then, when she refused to take my 20, I set it on their table and ran off.
Maybe I should have accepted. Maybe I robbed her of the joy of giving, that warm fuzzy feeling that can last for hours, if not days, when you know you did something nice for someone. I don’t know, what was the right thing to do?